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Roundup: Baseball picture books hit it out of the park

Bob Minzesheimer, USA TODAY
5:22 p.m. EDT March 20, 2013

Winter is finally thawing and spring is upon us! Well, that may be wishful thinking, but spring training is officially underway. In honor of baseball and warm weather, look inside four children's books that hit it out of the ballpark. (Photo: None)

New player Abbott is in a constant state of confusion about his fellow teammates, thanks to the famous comedy routine in 'Who's on First?' by Abbott & Costello, illustrated by John Martz. (Photo: None)

The Major League Baseball season opens March 31. To help young literary fans prepare, USA TODAY's Bob Minzesheimer, who coaches Little League when he's not reading, files his scouting report on four new illustrated books that ask who's on first and how Babe Ruth became the Babe.

Who's on First?By Abbott and Costello, illustrated by John MartzQuirk, 36 pp., for ages 7 and up* * * (out of four)

Some humor is ageless. My son, a 12-year-old catching prospect, howled with laughter the first time he listened to a recording of Abbott and Costello's classic vaudeville routine, "Who's on First?" He laughed again as soon as he saw the cover of John Martz's illustrated version. Martz imagines Lou Costello as a white rabbit and Bud Abbott as a brown bear who coaches a team with Who's on first, What's on second, and I Don't Know is on third. Reading it to myself, I could hear the voices of Abbott and Costello in the theater of my mind. Better yet, the book makes for dramatic read-alouds. The author's "brief history" of the comedy routine leaves too many unanswered questions, but miscommunications have never been so much fun.

Take Me Out to the YakyuWritten and illustrated by Aaron MeshonAtheneum, 30 pp., for ages 2-6* * *

'Take Me Out To The Yakyu'

The American lords of baseball crown a world champion every fall, although huge parts of the world wouldn't know a bunt from a home run. One exception is Japan, where baseball has been the most popular U.S. import since 1872. Illustrator Aaron Meshon, who has lived in New York and Japan, offers a simple bilingual lesson in how the game is the same and different here and there. Two-page spreads compare a "95-mile-per-hour fastball" with a "153-kilometer-per-hour sokkyu."

In America, fans chant, "Win! Win! Win!" Japanese fans are less demanding, yelling "Ganbatte!" or "Go for it!" Home run is "homuran," hitter is "dasha," and curveball is "kabu." The author notes that in Japan, extra-inning games end after 12 innings if the score is tied, because explaining "Japanese trains don't run after midnight."

In all of baseball history, is there a star who has been more celebrated and mythologized than Babe Ruth? The appeal of Matt Tavares' beautifully illustrated biography is its focus on Ruth's humble origins. It opens in the streets of Baltimore in 1902, when George Herman Ruth was just a troublemaking truant. When he was 7, his parents had enough and sent him off to St. Mary's Industrial School for Boys, where Brother Matthias taught him baseball. At 16, Ruth was signed to a minor-league contract. Despite fame and fortune, his career and life didn't end well, but Tavares' book does. In 1920, when most of St. Mary's was destroyed by fire, Ruth came to its rescue. He later returned to hit a few more home runs outside the new dorms with a Ruthian smile.

After publishing a memoir, Wherever I Wind Up, last spring, R.A. Dickey went on to win the Cy Young Award as the best pitcher in the National League. That makes for a triumphant end to the kids' version of an inspiring against-the-odds memoir by an avid reader. (Dickey, now with the Toronto Blue Jays, has been known to keep books in his locker.) In the most revealing parts of the book, he deals with his mother's alcoholism, his parents' divorce and how he had to repeat seventh grade. His tone is earnest but not preachy. He describes how he learned to throw a knuckleball and saved his career. He also looks back at his youthful soul as a "work in progress." Dickey explains why he believes in prayer but never asked God, "Lord, please let me strike out Albert Pujols four times tonight."